Cracking the Zero Mystery: How the U.S. Learned to Beat Japan's Vaunted Wwii Fighter Plane

This book is a soft cover production, and explains how the United States Navy recovered a downed Japanese Zero fighter plane in the Alaskan theater near Dutch Harbor. The Zero was nearly intact. It was then shipped on a Navy transport ship to the US Navy base at North Island, San Diego. There the Zero was restored to flying condition in about six weeks, and was test flown to determine its combat performance characteristics... Read Full Review

I highly enjoyed this book and it make a very valuable addition to a WWII reader's library. To understand the Zero is to understand the Japanese war machine. Like the German counterpart, the BF-109, it would have been impossible for Japan to have had such a successful record from the period of 1941 until late in 1942. My favorite part of the book was the recovery and repair of the Zero from the Alaskan bog. Had Koga... Read Full Review

"Cracking The Zero Mystery" by Jim Rearden. Sub-titled: "How The U.S. Learned To Beat Japan's Vaunted WWII Fighter Plane" Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1990. In June 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy feinted towards the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, in an attempt to draw U.S. Navy forces away from the impending battle of Midway. One result of this IJN thrust towards Alaska, was that Flight Petty Officer Tadayoshi... Read Full Review